Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1887-06-11
SHE, +,
H'HiStor1 of: Hd2ehture
BY ]. RIDER HAGGARD.
CHAPTER XIV.
nA - Ann.G..n....

"A VIVA AN AOAthabNAE
1t was nearly 10 o'clock at night when
cast myself down upon my bed and began 10
gather my scattered wits, and reflect supon
what had seen and heard. But the more
reflected the less could make Of IT, Was
mad, or drunk, or dreaming, or was merely
the victim Of gigantic and most elaborate
hoaxl How was it possible that /, rational
man, not unacquaipted with the leading sci
entific facts Of our history, and hitherto an
absolute and utter disbeliever In all the hocus-
pocus that in Europe goes by the name of the
supernatural, could believe that had within
tho last few minutes been engaged In CONVEX
sation with woman 1900 and odd years old 7
The thing was contrary to the experience Of
human nature, and absolutely and utterly
impossible. Nonsense; IL must be nonsense
She had warned mo fairly and had refused
to take the worning Curses on the fatal GU
riosity that is ever prompting man 70 draw
the veil from woman, and curses on the nat
ural impulse that begets i'll J. at my age,
to fall victim to this modern Circel But
then she was not modern; ut least she said
not. She was almost as ancient as the orig
inal Gree.
tore my hair, and Jumped up off my
couch, feeling that II did not do something
should also 80 Off rny head. What did she
mean about the scarabmus, tool II was Leo's
scarab@us, and had come out Of the old cof-
fer that Vincey had left in my rooms nearly
swenty-one years before. Could IL b. after
al, that the whole story was true, and the
writing on the sherd was not forgery, or
the invention Of some crack Drained, long
forgotten individuall And IL so, could II be
that Leo was the man that She was waiting
for-the dead man who was to be born
again! Impossible again. The whole thing
was gibberish; who ever heard Of man be.
Ing born againl
Next bethought mo tho, bad not been
to see how Leo was, so taking up one OF the
lamps that burned away at my bedside I
slipped off my shoes and crept down the
passage to tho entrance Of his cave. The
draught Of night air was lifting his curtain
to and fro gently, as though spirit hands were
drawing and redrswing II. l slid into the
vault like apartment and looked. There was
q light In II, and Leo was lying on the couch,
tossing restiessly In his fever, but asleep. BY
bis side, half lying on the floor, half leaning
against the stone couch, was Ustane. She
held his hand In one of hers, but she too was
doing, and the two made pretty, or rather
pathetic, picture. Poor keoi his cheek was
burning red, there were dark shadows be-
meath his eyes, and his breath came heavily.
He was very, very i'll; and again the hor-
rible fear seized me that he might die, and /
be left alone in the world. And yet II he
lived ho would perhaps be my rival with
Ayesha even il he were not the man what
chance should l, middle aged and hideous,
have against his bright youth and beautyi
Well, thank heayenl my sense Of right was
not dead She had not killed that yet; and,
as stood there, prayed 10 the Almighty In
my heart that my boy, my more than son,
might live, ny, even IL he proved TO be the
man.
Then went back as softly as had come,
but still could not sleep, the sight and
thought Of dear Leo lying there SO i'll had but
added fuel TO the fire Of my unrest My
wearied body and oyerstrained mind had
awakened all my imagination into prefer
natural activity. Ideas, visions, almost in
spirations, tloated before It with startling
vividness. Most of them were grotesque
enough, some were CHASTITY, some recalled
thoughts and sensations that had for years
been buried in the debris Of my past life. But
behind and above them all lowered the shape
of that awful woman, and through them
cleaned the memory OF her enhancing love
illness. Up and down the cave | strode-up
and down.
Suddenly observed what bad not noticed
before, that there was a narrow aperture in
the rocky wall I took up the lamp and ex-
amined it; the aperture led to passage.
Now was still sufficiently sensible TO remem'
Der that 1t Is not pleasant, In such situation